Robert Francisco

I recently read that “when a dream becomes a goal the real work begins”. I am finding this true as I plan for my trip and am sure that days and months on the trail will also require significant effort to ensure success. I am really excited about the prospect and I am enjoying this new goal phase of hiking the PCT.
I have been giving the “rules” of my hike some thought. I believe this is important because I have some strong ideas regarding the type of hike I want to complete. In the community of long distance hikers you will frequently hear the term “hike your own hike” (HYOH). This is a way of saying that you should hike the way you want to. Conversely it is a polite way to tell the pundits or hiking pontificators you are not particularly interested in their opinion as to how you are not hiking “their” way, and thus by their definition, “the best” way. The bottom line is the PCT is ~2650 miles and you have some choices on how you are going to attempt to get from Mexico to Canada.

For example, are you going to skip sections because they are not pretty or lack water?

I am planning on hiking contiguously from Mexico to Canada largely along the PCT. If I make it, I want to be able to say to myself that I hiked the entire way and when I look at a map of my route I do not want to see any breaks in the hiking line depicted. I am willing to take side trails if they are more scenic or offer other advantages but I am unwilling to skip any section that would make my hike non-contiguous. Basically, I will not skip ahead. I know already that I plan to take several of the more scenic routes along the route but not on the official PCT. One is around Crater Lake in Oregon and another is the Eagle creek trail also in Oregon. Both of the alternate routes are not appropriate for horses and thus are not part of the official route. They are reported to be significantly more scenic however.